Back To School Night--Again

I joke that I should be excused from all of Christa's Back To School Nights and Parent/Teacher Conferences. Afterall, I'm a pro. Attending her siblings' events should earn me a pass, right?

Wrong.

I sat in those too-tiny desks for Josh, Katie Beth and Amy. I'll do it for Christa.
I read through the school handbook for Josh, Katie Beth and Amy. I'll do it for Christa. I think I could recite the thing--snow day policy and dress codes and the academic calendar--in my sleep!

I listened to teachers explain the daily routines and ask for classroom help and talk about field trips and give out dates for Christmas concerts and Spring concerts for my first three kiddos. And I'll do it again for the next 11 years for Christa.

As much as I joke about wanting to opt out, being involved in Christa's life isn't optional. It was important to Christa that her dad and I were there. We found a note waiting for us on her desk. (All the children wrote notes to their parents in their journals.) Christa's went something like this:

Dear Mom and Dad,
Thanks for coming tonight. Look at
the fish! What did you do in first grade? Love, Christa.

So her dad and I looked at the fish. We wrote her a note in her journal about what we liked in first grade. We peeked inside her desk because Christa loves having her own desk in first grade.

That's what's important to her right now--so that's what's important to us.